January 4, 2013

• "... since thou hast been thus gracious ..." ~ Susanna Anthony and grace upon grace

  New Year's Day was the 240th anniversary of John Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace,"
  and in my post Amazing Grace ... upon Grace,

  I challenged you who are Christians with my own words:

  are you continuing to press on to receive grace upon grace?

  . . . as well as with the words of Scripture (from the experience of the John and the early disciples):

  "And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace."
  (John 1:16, ESV)

  . . . as well as William Cowper's words:

  In Jesus is our store,
  GRACE issues from his throne;
  Whoever says, “I want no more,”
  Confesses he has NONE.

  On my birthday last August, in my post "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain," I wrote of my own experience to press on to seek the Lord –– to receive grace upon grace –– as well as my desire for you to do likewise. Here are some excerpts from that post:

  I was saved in November 1982, but only a few years ago, I came to a point in my Christian life when I began to be challenged by the Spirit of God to possess the land, much like what was happening in the book of Joshua...

  Joshua 13:1 Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed. This is the land that yet remains..."

  Joshua 18:1 Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them.  2  But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance. 3 Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?
  

  To explain, it wasn't a physical land I was being challenged to go in and possess, but rather a spiritual land – the spiritual inheritance God has given me in Jesus Christ. . . .

  . . . as I was reading ["The Memoir of the Rev. W.H. Hewitson," the] phrase: "God's glory in all that is glorious," ... I recalled Moses' prayer to God in Exodus 33 (where Moses asked God to show him His glory), and so I looked up the passage, which I'd read countless times before, had studied in BSF at least a couple times, plus I'd also read Lloyd-Jones' sermons on it (and had listened to some of those as well) –– but that night those words in Exodus 33 came alive to me in a way they hadn't before, particularly verse 13:

  Now therefore I pray if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight, and consider that this nation is your people.
  

  I found this mind-boggling and exhilarating... Here is Moses, who has already found grace in the eyes of God. But Moses is not content with that. He's found grace, but there he is asking to find grace! There's that holy discontentment! He's going back to God and importunately pleading: "I want to know You! I want to receive more grace from You!" And then, if you keep reading the passage, God grants Moses his request, but even at that point, Moses doesn't stop, he pleads with God to show him His glory! I can't explain it you, but the Rock just split open for me at that moment. Now the perplexing thing to me, as I said above, is that I'd heard these things all over the place in Lloyd-Jones teachings for a couple years prior to that time, but all of a sudden my heart and my eyes were opened, and now they were made to be real possibilities for ME – much like Paul had been praying for the Ephesians in chapter 1. I found myself embracing those possibilities and promises with all my might. The Spirit blows how, when, and where He wills! O! Rejoice with trembling before this sovereign, good, and gracious God of glory! And then examine the content of the prayers you are regularly praying. How do they compare to Moses' prayer here? How do they compare to Paul's prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3? . . .

  My purpose in writing all this to you, and my purpose in much of my writing here, is to tell of God's righteousness and salvation, to declare God's strength and power, that is, to remind you that there are streams of Living Water abundantly available to all the saints. To declare to you that in Christ there is an infinite spring of life (not a limited well) – but all too often we fail to ask, seek, and knock for these things because we don't even understand they are available to us. I see far too many of you hewing and drinking of broken cisterns and strange waters. I am writing to urge you to pray for a holy discontentment such as Moses had and to seek to know and to experience the great and glorious possibilities of the Christian life.

  And, dare I say it, and I don't mean to sound unthankful at all, and I don't want to be misunderstood here –– so often we settle for first grace, and we don't press in and onward and upward to ask for more! Jesus Christ gave Himself in our place, and through His body and blood He has made a way for all believers to begin to experience infinite grace, glory, love, light, life, comfort, and joy –– but what are we doing about it? My brothers and sisters, there IS spiritual land to be possessed! Are you being negligent like the Israelites? No wonder so many of you are weary, fainting, and languishing. We can't expect to run the race set before us apart from God's supplies. Can you really expect to flourish in times of famine, to be sustained in the Valley of Baca (the thirsty or weeping valley), to persevere with joy, or to bubble up with living water to a thirsty world if you aren't drinking of Christ and if you aren't seeking to drink deeper and deeper of Him?

  Caleb's example to this 54-year old:  Don't stop satisfied!

  One of the greatest dangers of the Christian life is for us to stop short of possessing and enjoying all of the spiritual inheritance God has for us. I have a close spiritual friend and one of the exhortations that we constantly bring to one another is this:  "Let us not STOP SATISFIED!" Why do we do that? Because we know that each of us, no matter who we are, no matter our previous experiences, is in grave danger of stopping satisfied. I'm turning 54 years old today, and I love the account of Caleb I've cited below, the man who at 85 years of age is still pressing in and onward and upward for more of Christ. Why? He kept remembering the promises of God and he continued to embrace them –– for a full forty-five years!

  Joshua 14:6 Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. 7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. 8 Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 9 So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ 10 And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. 11 As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. 12 Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”

  13 And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. 14 Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. 15 And the name of Hebron formerly was Kirjath Arba (Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim).
  

  However long I live in this earthly tent, I am praying for God's grace to continue to abound to me so I might be pressing on in the same way Caleb did! O! God! Let me not stop satisfied! Give me this mountain!

  What kind of life are we really living if we stop satisfied? Having received a sight of God's glory, are we not given freedom by the Holy Spirit to go from glory to glory? Having received grace, ought we not to be pleading for more grace? Like Joshua, I am old, and advanced in years compared with many of you, but I am praying God will grant me grace to possess all the land He has yet for me! The thought thrills me, for I am increasingly convinced that, as the Scripture tells us:

  ... the path of the just is like the shining sun,
  That shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
  (Proverbs 4:17)
  

  . . .

  My deepest desire and prayer is that along with me, you would not stop satisfied, but that God would grant you an enlarged and enhanced understanding of the inheritance He has for you, and along with that, an ever-increasing hunger and thirst to know Him. And I'll tell you this, as God does this for you, He will give you a desire to use it to His glory, for He always blesses us to bless others. As we freely receive, we are called to freely give. . . .

  * * *

  I'd encourage you to go and read that whole post, but I wanted to present that excerpt today in order to set the stage for the words of Susanna Anthony (1726-1791), a young woman who wasn't settling for or stopping satisfied with first grace, but was inflamed with a holy passion and a holy discontentment to seek to receive of His fullness grace upon grace. Miss Anthony prayed like Moses and embraced the promises of God like Caleb. (FYI:  In a previous post, consider ... our ways, the great cloud of witnesses, Susanna Anthony, I included a diary entry written by Miss Anthony about a year before the one I've included below.)

  The meditations, prayers and desires of this eighteen-year-old youth put most of us to shame. May God give each of us grace to examine ourselves and our desires and consider our ways, so we don't waste our lives (waste Christ's life!) and squander the spiritual inheritance that is already ours in Jesus Christ. May God give us grace to seek to receive from His fullness grace upon grace as we ought –– for IF we have already found grace in God's sight, ought we not be hungering and thirsting for grace upon grace –– pressing on to know the LORD with a holy boldness, to find grace in His sight and to be shown His glory –– like Moses and Caleb and Susanna Anthony? God forbid we settle for first grace and stop satisfied, and be found negligent or slack in our pursuit of God for "God is the highest good of the reasonable creature, and the enjoyment of him is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied." ~ Jonathan Edwards (HT: http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/jonathan-edwards-on-the-pilgrim-mindset).

  Oct. 26, 1744. I have now just finished the 18th year of my age. Good God! to what little purpose have I lived these eighteen years! Ah. Lord, thou hast come these many years seeking fruit; but alas! how little hast thou found! How vilely have I requited thy care! and how incorrigible have I been, under all thy cultivations. But, sure I am, these unparalleled instances of ingratitude and rebellion have not stopped the current of thy unbounded goodness. Was ever mortal so favored before! It is too bold an assertion to say, infinite mercy could not go beyond, considered in itself; yet, when I look on it, as relating to me the most ungrateful, unworthy, ill-deserving of all the redeemed race, the chief of sinners, and most helpless of mortals, I am ready to cry out, Never a greater instance of divine mercy! It is two years since I gave myself up to God and his church; and publicly avowed the Lord, for my God. And, though I would lament my vileness, that I have lived so unbecoming one in covenant with a holy God; yet, O, Lord my God, what shall I render to thee for thy preserving and sustaining grace; that I have been enabled to resist most fierce and otherwise irresistible assaults?

     Yea, I will praise him, who has been the health of my countenance, and my God. It has been because thou hast been the health of my countenance, that it has been in any measure healthful, hitherto. Therefore will l still hope in thy mercy. O God of my former revivals, leave me not not. How many months have I passed without any sensible decline of the power of godliness in my soul? For near these two years, more especially, I trust I have made sensible progress in my christian course. This I dare assert, to the honor of free, unmerited grace. To thy name, eternal Jehovah, be the glory. Thy grace hath been cultivated in my soul, notwitstanding all my corruptions. I have been admitted to near converse with thee. Thou hast made such discoveries of thyself, that I have seemed, as it were, to behold thee with open face; and, in some degree, to be changed into thine image. These powerful discoveries have formed my soul to a holy calm and serenity; a deep abasement; holy, solemn, humble awe of the great Jehovah; with holiness to the Lord inscribed on all my powers; not only in holy raptures of joy, with the gracious manifestation of thy most endearing love; but sweetly swallowed up in the opening views and apprehensions of Deity. The glories of Jehovah I cannot describe; or even the sensible transforming power such discoveries of thyself have had on my soul.

     And O, what a despicable worm did I appear to myself, when thou wast pleased to pass before me in the glories of thy nature, and caused me to cry out, "Woe is me! I am undone! I am unclean! I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes."
  
     Yet, since thou hast been thus gracious, I entreat thee, O God, who art still the same, my almighty and faithful God, to show me thy glory. Lord, give me soul-quickening, soul-humbling, and soul-reviving and transforming views of thyself O Lord God, arise for my help. Entreat me not to leave thee; but suffer me, yea do thou strengthen me to a holy violence, to wrestle with thee, and tell thee, I cannot let thee go, my Lord, and my God. O, now admit me to a near converse with thee. Unveil thy perfections, so far as a mortal worm can bear. Lord, fill a finite vapor. Break in on my soul with divine power. Show me thy glory. I cannot withdraw my petition. Dear, ever gracious, all condescending Savior, condescend to grant my request. Shouldest thou now hold forth thy sceptre, and bid me ask what I would, this should be my immediate request, O give me transforming discoveries of thyself: Show me thy glory. Amen, even so, Lord Jesus. Amen and Amen.
  
  Source: "The Life and Character of Miss Susanna Anthony. Who Died, in Newport, (R I.) June 23, 1791, in the 65th year of her age. Consisting Chiefly in Extracts from Her Writings, with Some Brief Observations on Them." Complied by Samuel Hopkins, Second Edition. (Portland, Maine: Lyman, Hall & Co. 1810), 71-72, underlining mine. (HT for the text: http://books.google.com/books?id=YO0QAAAAYAAJ)

  ---

  Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

  Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Emphasis mine.

  Work found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre-%C3%89douard_Fr%C3%A8re_-_Interior_Scene_with_Woman_Praying_-_Walters_371370.jpg by Pierre-Édouard Frère. Released into Public Domain by Walters Art Museum / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

  Related posts:

  • consider ... our ways, the great cloud of witnesses, Susanna Anthony
  • Amazing Grace . . . upon Grace ~ the 240th anniversary
  • birthday reflection: "the great & glorious possibilities" ~ "Now therefore, give me this mountain"
  • Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
  • Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
  • Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
  • Advent # 8: WHY HAS JESUS COME? "so that [we] might be WITH HIM" ~ Mark 3:14
  • Advent # 9 WHY HAS JESUS COME? Adoption: the highest privilege the gospel offers ~ J.I. Packer
  • John 3:36a Whoever believes in the Son HAS eternal life (letter 64 on assurance & joy)
  • "give me also springs of water" - Will you be an Achsah? (letter 66 on assurance & fighting for joy)
  • Where do you go when the world is unlovely? (Psalm 84 & the theology of Biblical counseling)
  • As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
  • a little child set in our midst leads us into the New Year
  • Phebe Bartlet – a child put in our midst ~ "Do you love Me?"

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